Contextual Influence on Psychological Adjustment of Pupils with Learning Disabilities in Inclusive Primary Schools in Kisumu East Sub County, Kenya

Learning disabilities (LDs) encompass a very extensive range of academic problems which can give rise to social and psychological problems. Apart from experiencing academic problems, pupils with LDs experience strong feelings of frustrations, sadness and shame as a result of repeated failure and this can lead to psychological difficulties. These psychological problems are experienced at home and at school and if not addressed they add to the burden of the condition and could find their way into adulthood. The purpose of this study was to establish contextual influence on psychological adjustment of pupils with LDs in inclusive primary schools. The study was guided by the following objectives: to find out the dimensions of psychological adjustment of pupils with LDs; to determine the influence of parent child relationships on pupils’ psychological adjustment; to determine the influence of peer relationships on the psychological adjustment of pupils with LDs; to examine the influence of teacher pupil relationships on psychological adjustment of pupils with LDs. The study was carried out in Kisumu East Sub County which has relatively high number of inclusive primary schools in Kisumu County. The theoretical framework for the study was Self- Determination Theory by Deci and Ryan (1985). The study adopted mixed method research design and targeted pupils with LDs in the 10 inclusive primary schools in Kisumu East Sub County. Saturated sampling technique was used to select pupils with LDs while purposive sampling technique was used to select parents and special education teachers. The sample size was 116 which comprised of 96 pupils, 10 parents and 10 special education teachers. Questionnaires for the pupils and interview schedules for teachers and parents were used as data collection instruments. The instruments were validated by piloting. Test re-test and reliability analysis were done to establish reliability index of the questionnaire and internal consistency of items respectively. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 22 and summarized using frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics used correlation and regression analysis. Content analysis was used for qualitative data. The study revealed that pupils with LDs had moderate measures of psychological adjustment. They suffer from depressive symptom, anxiety and anger problems, while their self-esteem is moderately high. Parent child relationship, peer relationship and teacher pupil relationship were found to have influence on psychological adjustment of pupils with LDs. It was concluded that relationships at home and at school are important for the psychological adjustment of pupils with LDs. The findings of this study are significant to parents, teachers and government. Among the recommendations were the Ministry of Education should mandate School Guidance and Counselling departments to develop programs to help pupils with LDs cope with the demands of life and thus be well adjusted. Peer counselling should be introduced and strengthened in inclusive primary schools to supplement the teacher counsellors’ efforts.